The Ouachita telegraph. [volume] (Monroe, La.) 1865-1889, 1887-03-05
GEN. LEE AS A TEACHER.

GEN. LEE AS A TEACHER.
His Plan of Training Young Mcn-What
| He Did for Washington and Lee
| University-Nhv He Refused to Act
| as President of an Insurance Com.
| pany.
baltimore American, Feb. 49,
| The Baltimore County Teachers
Association met yesterday at Y. NJ.
G. A. Hall. Col. William Allen, Of
| McDonough Institute who was on Gen.
Stonewali Jackson's stan, and who
was one of the faculty of Washington
and Lee University when Gen. Lee
| was president of that institution, de-
livered an address entitled "Gen. Rob.
ert e. Lee as an Educator" He said !:
"Lee was one of the noblest specimens
of an illustrious line. He was strik-
ingly handsome. His manners, simple
aud unassuming, were a model of
elegant dignity and ease. He was a
splendid horseman, and whether on
horseback or foot his graceful appear
ance always riveted attention. His
intellectual powers were Of high
order. His most admirable quality
was his broad grasp. He had that
fairness and accuracy of judgment
which he displayed as we'll In manag-
ing a college aud governing students
rs In the field. In matters small and
great he was the best balanced man I
ever knew. Strong common sense was
ever uppermost. He had q quick
temper, but controlled It In a masterly
manner, and consequently rarely
exhibited any signs of anger. When
he did 1t was but a momentary flash.
At Sharpsburg, when the Federals
were dealing death all around him, he
met, as he rode toward Gen. Jackson's
lines, struggling soldier with stolen
pig. He got angry and sent the man
to Jackson with the order to have him
punished. jackson sent him to the
front, where he exhibited 80 much
courage that he was pardoned. He
said to Col. Walter Taylor, his adjus
taut general, who got excited one day,
| Come, you mustn't get angry, Colonel,
because did," He surprised the facul.
ty by the way he mastered every
detail of the college business, from
superlntending the repairs of buildings
to a perfect knowledge of the standing
in studies and deportment:of every one
of the 800 or 400 students In the COL
lege. He was marvelously free from
the small vices and foibles of human
ity. He was strictly temperate In
eating and drinking. He drank but
little wine, and used no tobacco. He
once said he used to play cards when
young, but as he noticed that the
young army officers who played cards
soon got to drinking and often quar-
relied at their games he determined to
give it up, When the war commenced
he was for the Union, and would have
gladly freed his slaves to have saved
il. Frank Blair was the medium Of
Offering him position in President
Lincoln's Cabinet, but he refused 1t,
for he said that he would do nothing
that might place him in conflict with
his native State.
"After the war he was offered q
position as president OF an insurance
company. He said the company could
not afford to pay him the salary they
offered, aud when they told him his
name would he worth more to the
company than the salary, he replied, ,
THAT is the reason l must refuse 1t /;
because I know nothing about the
insurance business, anu IL "oulu not
be right for me to encourage my friends
to insure in Il company, the MANAGE
menl of which am not thoroughly
acquainted with He was disgusted
at tho idea of trading on his name.
His great tact and kindness of heart
contributed much to his popularity.
His idea of education was to train
young men to govern themselves.
He applied to himself two great
principles. He sought to develop
character and a hightoned, earnest
manhood, aud he taught that example
far outweighed precept. He lived the
lesson he wished to inculcate. Nc
educational influence stronger or more
beneiicent than the closing years OF his
life has been felt by the South since
the war. II the Southern people have
been able, by patient endurance and
continuance in we'll doing, to reach q
plane Of comparative safety and pros
} perity, it is in no small degree due to
the splendid force of Gen. Lees ex'
AMPLE"
JEFFERSONIAN SIMPLICITY,